


Fate and Destiny

by hippolarium



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Past Lives, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, Zutara month 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 03:26:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12998844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hippolarium/pseuds/hippolarium
Summary: There was a restlessness, a voidness within them, too powerful to name. It existed in them both for as long as they could remember. It brought about powerful dreams that left them with no memories, but a roaring heartache and sadness. The grief of watching the one you loved most being taken from you.My entry for Zutara Month 2017, this one is Day Three: Past Lives





	Fate and Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first fanfic for the fandom so please go easy on me hahaha... kudos and comments greatly appreciated! feel free to leave some constructive criticism :)

There was a restlessness, a sense of _voidness_ within her, too powerful to name. It had always existed within her, but only recently did it manifest itself in unbearable magnitudes at a time. She would have dreams that stirred such emotions, but awake with no memories of what she saw. Only a roaring heartache and sadness, as if she had lost something that had cherished as her world entire. It tormented her, and she longed for the day when she would find stillness.

 

She jogged onwards in the light of the full moon, relishing the steady beating of her heart, the breeze on her skin, the tightening and relaxing of her muscles with each step. It was the only way Kunna could regain some semblance of control over her restlessness. Channelling that energy within her mind towards her body.

Water.

Running freely, flowing downhill, curling around trees. It must’ve been somewhere far from the road, the Fire Nation would never build a road so close to a stream, but she heard it as if she stood right next to it. It beckoned to her, sought to be found.

Before she knew it, she was walking off the road and into the trees, pushing through leaves and branches that hindered her, standing before the river. She knelt down before it and dipped her hand in, the water flowing around her fingers unaffected.

It came to her in flashes.

She suddenly remembered a flask at her side, unscrewing the lid, the water following her hands. She remembered dropping into a fighting stance, pulling the river from beyond a boat over her head and washing her foes away. She remembered the rain, each drop resonating within her like a second heartbeat, stopping in its path at her command.

Kunna screamed and startled away from the river. There were very few benders left in the world, and none of them commanded the water. They had slowly declined throughout history as the four nations progressed into a world of technology. Machines came into existence, allowing non-benders to do the same tasks as any regular bender. Magnificent skyscrapers clustered together within an urban city were built. Technology evolved at the speed of light with no intention of stopping.

It was a memory; there was no way else to explain that odd sense of deja-vu. But it was an image engraved not in her mind. No, it felt deeper than that. An image engraved into her soul.

A memory from a past life.

She scrambled to her feet and ran back to the road a, too alarmed to notice the little jerk in the river as she moved.

 

_The sky was red and the air thin and dry. There was scarcely any water anywhere save for the little in her flask. She was in a foreign country and every step screamed danger. But this was destiny’s will, and there was no escaping. She heard herself speak, but it was a mess of noise and sound. Kunna reached out to the sound, tried grasping for words._

_“You… -_ ecome _…Firelord… overthrow…”_

_“The Capital… Agni K-”_

_“Comet!”_

_Lightning. She registered lightning._

——

There was a restlessness, a sense of _voidness_ within him, too powerful to name. He had felt it for as long as he could remember. It became his old friend, secret companion. It spoke to him in his dreams. It had once brought him a sense fear and anger, but he had grown with them. They left him no memories when he woke, but only a roaring heartache and sadness. Like he had let his heart, something he loved more than his own life, slip between his fingertips. It tormented him, beyond words.

 

He rose with the sun, the dawn trickling into his veins and stirring every nerve awake. Ba Sing Se was beautiful in the sunrise. Lozu watched the light crest over the great wall and beam across the city, hues of orange and yellow driving away the purple in the sky, flecks of white over the rooftops. He inhaled deeply, in awe of his city, and smiled. This was his favourite part of the day. Watching the sun rise didn’t subdue the restlessness within him, but it seemed to convert it to benevolent energy. It helped centre his emotions and prepared him for the gruelling day ahead.

Fire.

It was small, tameable at the moment, but he felt uneasy about it. It resonated within his muscles, pulsed alongside his heartbeat like life itself. He quickly pulled on a shirt and his shoes and raced outside, following the pulsing in his heart. He ran down his street, past familiar houses who were just beginning to rise with the day, across the road, narrowly avoiding the cars heading off to work. He followed it to a place he hadn’t been before, a small patch of woodland, just behind the little school.

Lozu saw it burning on a magnificent tree located within the school’s playground. His instinct was right, it was too small at the moment to cause any real damage. But it was neglected, left to its own devices. He saw how quickly it could devour the tree, the play equipment propped up against it, the gate that closed off the playground. He saw its trunk snapping, falling with the wind through the school’s roof, setting the building ablaze. It had to be stopped here. He approached it carefully.

It came to him in flashes.

He suddenly remembered the pumping of his blood, the pounding in his muscles as he channelled his energy and inner chi, the burst of fire from his very own life force. He remembered dropping into a fighting stance, running and leaping as the adrenaline took over, pushing out his fists and summoning waves of flame and power. He remembered fear, weeping in pure shock and fear, and a searing burn on the left of his face.

Lozu fell to his knees and gasped, clutching his face as if it were burning. It couldn’t be real, he refused to believe it. Which father would ever find it in his heart to burn his own son in such a humiliating and agonising display of power? That memory couldn’t be real, could never belong to any life that walked upon this earth. It couldn’t be _his_.

He forced his breaths to even out and his mind to clear. His fingers brushed over the skin, checking it was still smooth and unmarred. No, it wasn’t a memory that belonged to this lifetime. It was powerful, it had defined his very being for that lifetime and lifetimes to come. It was engraved on his soul.

The smell of smoke and burning wood grounded him back to the present and he saw that the little flame had spread throughout the top branch. It barely licked the low hanging leaves, and when those leaves caught aflame, it wouldn’t be too long before they spread to the equipment below. He had to act now.

Something inexplicable called from within him. Fire could be destructive when fuelled by rage and mercilessness. But fire was life itself. And like all life, it could be snuffed out.

Before he could rationalise the fact that he wasn’t a firebender, that there were only very few left in the world and his bloodline was not descended from a single one of them, that he was of pure Earth Kingdom blood, that what he was about to do was insane, he reached out towards the flame and took hold of the restlessness within himself. He meditated slowly in that position and ushered the restlessness into silence.

He watched the flames slowly crawl back to the single spot on the branch where it had originated, before leaping off of the tree completely and dissipating into his hand.

 

_The sky was red and the air thin and dry. It was familiar to his skin and brought some semblance of comfort to still his nerves. Every street they passed called out to the hidden place in his heart where he stored his past. This was destiny’s will, and there was no escaping it. This place had given him life, and now, it was his turn to repay the favour. He heard himself speak, but it was indiscernible sound and noise. Lozu reached out for the sound and tried to grasp at the words._

_“…need y… master_ waterbend _-“_

_“Southern Water Tri-“_

_“NO!”_

_He registered a flash of lightning, headed for the wrong person._

__

They say that Fate was unrelenting and cruel to them, the Prince of Fire and the Master of Water. She had placed a war between them. For the Prince, She had gifted him the world, only to tear it away as if his life was something to be toyed with. She had broken him down, stripped him of his worth, and left him in the shadows to rot. For the Master, She had placed her in ruins and devastation. But She built her up, made her great and feared, and brought her to the Avatar. She had always favoured the Master between the two.

But Destiny was more kind to them. He watched the Prince from afar and marvelled at his sheer determination and unwavering strength. The Prince was a man built in the ancient fire and from the phoenix spirit. But his soul was lonely and broken. Destiny looked into the Master’s heart and saw her true desires. Desires that the woman herself could not even fathom, and desires too deep for Fate to comprehend. Desires much greater and noble than the life Fate had planned for her.

He took pity on the two and intervened. He gave the Prince rest and healing, He gave the Master strength and support. He had not anticipated how well the two would fit together and delighted in the joy He had created. He took the quill from Fate and wrote out a great future for them. A future where that joy would only continue and increase, a joy powerful enough to create life and healing itself.

But Fate was angered at His interference. Destiny’s will could no longer be changed, but She still had the power to write the present. And Destiny had forgotten to fill in one crucial day; the Day of the Comet. The Prince was never to find joy, She had decreed it. She would not allow him to taint the Master’s future and forbade their joining together.

She decided it would come in lightning. Love, the very power that built him up and restored his worth, would be the end of him. As easily as Destiny had led him to it, She could take that love away.

But the Prince was unwavering, unrelenting and strong enough to defy Her. Against all odds, he did the impossible. Instead of the Master’s life, it would be his.

And the Master was powerful, quick-witted and fast on her feet. She, too, had been underestimated. She, too, had the strength to defy Her. And so, with the very same gifts Fate had blessed her with, she restored the Prince’s life.

There was chaos. Fate had decreed that only one of the two survive. But they had both refused. It had torn a hole in the fabric of Her reality and both She and Destiny had lost control of the Prince and the Master’s lifetimes. In their refusal to obey Her and the joint loss of their lifetimes, they became tethered to the other. Soulmates. And the aftereffects of that lifetime echo into their following lifetimes.

The Prince and Master were separated from each other, the aftereffect of Fate’s refusal to join them. And as soulmates who have been lost to each other, they are reborn each lifetime with an immovable restlessness and yearning for the other. It is a curse. Each lifetime they do not meet, they are reborn to relive and endure the ever-growing restlessness.

But it is not only Fate that leaves an indent on their lifetimes, for it was both Fate and Destiny that had written their story. Destiny’s will must be fulfilled, and will be fulfilled eventually. His promise for a future of joy together, a joy that will create life and healing still exists. It is engraved onto their souls.

And they say that once Destiny’s will is fulfilled, the cycle of rebirth will be broken, and the Prince and the Master will find peace.

**Author's Note:**

> when i first conceived this story, i imagined it with a lot of meat, like a full multichapter fic. but i have commitment issues so im scared to do it lmao. thoughts?


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